Such a ball and sleeve joint is known from the state of the art. For example, DE 100 23 602 C2 discloses a ball and sleeve joint with a joint housing, with a ball sleeve provided with a spherically designed bearing surface and with a bearing shell, which surrounds the bearing surface and is received in a recess of the bearing housing, wherein the ball sleeve is provided with a through hole and extends out of the housing on both sides.
In modern vehicles, e.g., in vehicles with gas discharge lamps (for example, xenon headlights) and in vehicles with level control, the spring compression of the vehicle is regularly detected via the spring compression angle of a sensor, which is also called level sensor. This sensor is installed as a separate assembly unit in the wheel housing and is connected to a control arm via a linkage. The drawback of this procedure is that additional components are needed, which require, firstly, much space for their installation, and are, secondly, rather prone to damage by stone chips. Thirdly, the assembly effort needed is rather high, and adjusting steps are necessary.
Efforts have therefore been made for some time now to replace the level sensor in its known form by a sensor that is integrated in a ball and socket joint, which is regularly used in chassis of motor vehicles.
A ball and socket joint with a ball socket connected to a housing and with a ball head connected to a pin, which ball and socket joint is mounted rotatably in the housing, is known from EP 0 617 260 A1. A permanent magnet, opposite which a magnetic sensor arranged in the housing is located, is arranged in the ball head. The magnetic dipole of the permanent magnet is directed at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the ball pin, and a bellows is provided for protecting the ball and socket joint against environmental effects. The permanent magnet is also rotated by a rotation of the ball head in the ball socket, so that the magnetic field changes in relation to the magnetic field-sensitive sensor, and a position signal is generated. The three-dimensional motions occurring additionally can be used for control purposes in case of corresponding evaluation.
A ball and socket joint with a housing section and with a ball pin, which has a pin section and a ball section and is mounted rotatably and pivotably with its ball section in a mount provided in the housing section, is known from DE 101 10 738 C1. A permanent magnet is arranged in the ball section in a radial orientation in relation to the center of the ball section, and a magnetic field-sensitive sensor element is integrated in the mount. The permanent magnet moves relative to the sensor element during a rotary motion of the ball section, so that the relative rotation position of the ball section in the mount can be detected.
However, the sensor/magnet arrangements integrated in a ball and socket joint cannot be extrapolated to a ball and sleeve joint, because the housing of a ball and sleeve joint has no bottom surface or housing cover facing away from the pivot pin, at which the sensor could be fastened. Furthermore, a flange area, which is provided with a through hole, joins in a ball sleeve at the point at which the magnet is fastened in the joint ball, so that a magnet fastened there would block the through hole.